In the last year I have had one steak, two bacon butties and three full English Breakfasts so the red meat or pseudo red meat industry is not going to make much out of my Wife and I.

As it happens the EU has supposedly strict rules about animal husbandry, and in the UK ever since Mad Cow disease ours has been sky high with a lot of people turning away from red meat.

We have a soya based product called Quorn that is a meat free alternative that works well in minced based meals and those requiring nugget shaped meat like ingredients, the sausages do taste OK but the pseudo bacon can be used to repair footware.

As a bye product of animal husbandry worldwide seems to be that animals are now injected with so many growth drugs (in the UK the USA is perceived as being one of the worst for injecting growth hormones into cattle).

If we look at any meat products in our Supermarkets then they are also laden with preservatives.

So anything that can help to reduce animal suffering is well worth it in my book.

Destroyer of Eardrums!!!

The way I see it, red meat is only the beginning. Once there's proof of concept and an initial startup, manufacturers would naturally expand their line to chicken, pork, lamb and even fish and seafood. Instead of raping our oceans it would be nice to be able to clone flounder or even lobster tails in vitro to feed the world.

As our population approaches 8 billion this technology is becoming more and more necessary to avoid the famines that are a major cause of war in Africa and the Middle East.

We've been having more vegetarian meals, and I'm certainly more mindful of avoiding foods that are resource-heavy, such as beef or lamb. I also try to buy local products too, rather than stuff that has been imported from the other side of the world. Easier said than done though! Annoyingly we can't have quorn or mushrooms at home because Ian is allergic to fungus, but there are plenty of alternatives.